


light shining out of its soul

by Wildspace



Series: 911 lone star week. [4]
Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: (like 5 years or something like that?), Car Accidents, Established Relationship, Future, M/M, Michelle is mentioned but barely, TK being a badass, a bit of fluff at the end, nobody important is hurt this time, set a few years later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:13:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23948953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wildspace/pseuds/Wildspace
Summary: Take 3 of "He's an impressive guy." Except, this time, it's not Carlos who says it.
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Series: 911 lone star week. [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1718455
Comments: 3
Kudos: 168
Collections: 9-1-1 Lone Star Week





	light shining out of its soul

**Author's Note:**

> I loved this parallel in the series, and I needed to write a "part 3" for it. It seems fitting aha.
> 
> (written for day 5 of Lone Star week.)  
> Still no Beta'd so please, don't hesitate to tell me if you saw mistakes.

There is a massive car accident in one of the busiest streets of Austin, involving a truck and four cars. It’s quite the mess, and cops are called on the scene to do crowd control. Carlos and his partner are one of the teams who the dispatch center sent there. They stop the car barely seven minutes after the call, and Carlos can already see two fire trucks, including the one from the station 126. As soon as he’s stepping out of the car, his eyes are looking for TK’s silhouette and find him a few seconds later. He is working on one of the most damaged cars with Marjan, where a kid and his parent seems to be stuck. Carlos doesn’t have time to be distracted and his partner is already asking where they should go to help. He looks away from his boyfriend, turning his eyes on Luke still by his side, waiting for instructions. “Let’s go,” he tells him. “We need to keep the crowd away from the scene, so the firefighters can do their job in peace. People have a morbid curiosity, you’ll learn.” Luke nods his head quickly, full of innocence and always eager to please. (Carlos was like that too, when he starts at the academy.)

As expected, people around the accident are hard to control because they want to watch the firefighters work, and they have a sick interest in observing a car crash accident. The bigger the better, it seems. Carlos has to yell at them to “stay back” a few times, always keeping a close eye on his rookie. Behind him, he can hear the rescue teams working hard to get the victims out of their cars, but he doesn’t turn to watch them. Somewhere in his back, TK is doing what he does best; saving people life. (Carlos is so proud of him, it hurts.) After half an hour, the crowd seems to calm down a bit, some people are even leaving the scene when they feel like the firefighters are taking too long to take the victims out of their cars. The truck driver has been taken care of by the paramedics, Michelle and his team are working on him, but he doesn’t seem to injure. On the contrary, TK and Marjan are still working on the same car from earlier. Carlos doesn’t have eyes on the victims anymore, but the firefighters’ facial expressions don’t look very encouraging. He hopes the call ends on a good note because even as the years pass, failing to save a person is never easy on TK’s mind. But Carlos is always there to pick up the pieces, always will. 

* * *

Things escalate sometime later. Marjan finally manages to take the parent out and rushes him to an ambulance waiting in stand-by. The paramedics jump in action, and Carlos watches Marjan go back to the car and TK who’s still working on the kid. The other victims are all getting to the ambulances quickly after that, and the only car still left is the one TK’s working on. The crowd has almost entirely scatter by now, and Carlos allows himself to focus a bit more on the firefighters’ work. TK and Marjan appear to struggle with the kid, and he’s not sure if it’s because of an injury or if it’s because he is stuck. Ten seconds later, the hood of the car lights on fire. Carlos is growing anxious by now, pacing back and forth next to one of the ambulance. Some firefighter tries to put out the fire, but it’s igniting too quickly. TK is running out of time to save the kid, Carlos knows that without being a firefighter. He also _knows_ the younger man will not leave the car until the kid can leave with him. (Carlos hates him a bit for that. He _loves_ him a lot more for that too.) 

TK manages to miraculously take the kid out and runs away with the child in his arms. A minute later, the car blows up. (Carlos thinks he lost a few years of life just there.) His eyes are on TK immediately, watching him goes to the ambulance to let the paramedics take care of the kid. “He’s an impressive guy,” someone says on his right. Carlos is so focused on TK’s back, the voice almost makes him jump. He turns his head to see Luke is back on his side, a look of awe painted on his face. “He’s my husband,” Carlos answers him, with a smile full of softness. The word still feels odd on his tongue, but he’s so glad he can finally say it. _TK is his, and he’s TK_. For the rest of their life. “Well, congrats sir, you found yourself a badass,” Luke continues. Carlos knows he should say something, but he likes his rookie, so he doesn’t. He thanks him, and tells him he will be back in a few minutes. 

TK is already watching him from where he’s leaning on the side of the fire truck. There is a smile on his lips, and his eyes are sparkling from the adrenaline of the rescue. Carlos is walking the few last meters separating them, and TK is in space in an instant. All smiling and hot, and teasing. “Hello, _husband_ ,” he says. They spend the last few weeks calling each other ‘husband’ because it never gets old, and the butterflies in their stomachs never die. “You know I don’t plan on becoming a widower before a very long time, right?” Carlos is not really mad at TK, he’s just teasing him. “I know, I know. But I couldn't let the kid died in that car,” comes the answer. “And I love you for that. I just wish you could save cats all days long.” As expected, TK laughs at that, and Carlos ends up laughing too. He knows perfectly TK will never be happy without the adrenaline of a dangerous call, and Carlos doesn’t really want him to save cats from trees again and again. They both have risky jobs, and they make their peace with that, but it’s always a bit hard to watch someone you love risks their lives in front of your eyes. “I’m going to make dinner tonight to redeem myself,” promises TK, and Carlos can’t stop the amused smile after the words escaped TK’s mouth. “Not sure that’s a good way to make up to me.” Carlos ends up kissing TK to shut his protests off.

**Author's Note:**

> (Title is from a poem by Sanober Khan.)


End file.
